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Electoral lessons for 2024

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There is no point looking back at the elections at this stage, except to guide what happens at the next ones.

A little noticed but not insignificant mark of this year’s elections was that several parties tried to stop the EFF, Black First Land First (BLF) and the African Transformation Movement (ATM) from contesting the elections through a variety of court applications, none of which succeeded.

I celebrate that. We needed everyone who felt they had a case to present before South Africans to do so.

It is important to always afford the electorate the final say.

If there was merit to any of the court applications, they can still be pursued now, having allowed South Africans to pronounce.

The culture of rushing to courts in the minutes before elections to effectively deny the electorate a voice should be discouraged.

All political parties must worry that far fewer voters bothered to vote or even to register to vote. Out of 35 million people eligible to vote, only half voted on May 8.

This was one of the worst turnouts since 1994, when voting was first opened to all the races.

It was the biggest irony of the elections that, with the highest number of parties (48), we had the worst turnout.

We can derive that the big parties did not appeal to half of South Africans.

It also means that, along the way, they failed previous voters who decided to stay at home rather than give away their vote when they had lost confidence in the system.

It is generally difficult to reverse a slide towards apathy.

The Electoral Commission of SA (IEC) struggled with rules that allowed for people to vote outside the stations where they were registered.

Although this was not new, current IEC leadership encouraged this practice, allowing it to become the norm rather than the exception.

It was therefore easy for people to claim they had voted in more than one voting station and the IEC could not credibly rebut such claims.

Linked to that was the inexplicable decision by the commission to tamper with the formula used to produce the election ink.

Indelible ink is one of the security measures used to protect the voting system because it prevents people from being able to vote more than once.

IEC officials said the formula had been changed to strengthen the ink, but many voters easily removed their ink, embarrassing the commission.

The results of the elections were nearly contested for the first time because of unnecessary mistakes.

Election results should be foolproof, otherwise we risk descending into chaos. If the IEC is not ready for electronic voting, it must at least tighten security.

Apparently some of the smaller parties objected to being called “smaller parties”. So maybe let’s call them new parties ... if that is not a problem.

Many of these parties clearly thought that it was enough to be on the ballot for them to qualify to get a seat in Parliament.

This was best demonstrated by the BLF, which celebrated being on the ballot, with its leader Andile Mngxitama proclaiming: “We are on the ballot box. We are going to Parliament.”

Well, he learnt the hard way that you actually have to work for the seats.

Mzwanele Manyi expected six million votes for the ATM, which received less than 77 000 votes in the end.

Few of the many new parties had any messages that distinguished them from the rest. No wonder fewer people voted.

Many commentators battle to say this clearly – the EFF did well in these elections.

However, Julius Malema admitted that they failed to reach their goals and warned that they would come down hard on local EFF leaders who did not pull their weight.

A notable trend during these elections was that a majority of young people either did not register to vote or those who were registered did not vote.

Many young people support the EFF at tertiary institutions, but are not motivated enough to vote.

Nevertheless, they still represent a potential large pool for the party for future elections, which has to work on its voter education campaigns to urge them to participate.

Malema also needs to unleash the potential of the other leaders in the party, who mostly just sit and admire him.

It is clear that he is the EFF’s strongest brand, but so much more could be achieved if other leaders were to shine as well.

The party has an elective conference at the end of the year; let’s hope it will use it to let a thousand flowers bloom.

It is easy to feel sorry for the DA, which is unable to pinpoint exactly where it went wrong with these elections and does not know what to fix.

Firstly, a little humility would do. Mmusi Maimane was warned about the looming catastrophic results, but he refused to believe the polls, saying they had been wrong in the past.

Again, he was warned that the party needed to sell a vision instead of being obsessed with the ANC, but the DA persisted to the last day with allegations of corruption by ANC leaders in government, something the electorate was well aware of.

The party failed to grow because it shed some traditional voters and failed to attract new ones. This is an existential crisis for the DA, which has to work on its image.

Right now, it is mostly associated with what comes out of Helen Zille’s Twitter feed, things such as the benefits of colonialism, black privilege and the entitlement of black people.

The party needs a new message and fresh faces.

It is telling that, even at 57% – a 5% drop – the ANC was still celebrating that it did not go below 55%.

The party knows it could have been worse.

Depending on how it uses the next five years, it could potentially go on a downward spiral come 2024. It needs to realise its importance as a political player.

The reason turnout is worsening is that ever more people battle with their conscience when they have to vote for this liberation movement that they once believed in.

It is good that President Cyril Ramaphosa is on a corrective mission to inspire hope that change is coming.

But what the ANC has to do to hold on to power is obvious – it must deliver on the mandate the public gives; tackle the crime in our communities; deliver quality education; clean up our hospitals and improve the quality of treatment; ensure a reliable supply of water and electricity; and eliminate corruption.

If the party delivers services to the people, they won’t worry about its internal fights. South Africans will reward the party irrespective of who leads it.


Rapule Tabane
Politics editor
City Press
City Press
p:+27 11 713 9001
w:www.citypress.co.za  e: rapule.tabane@citypress.co.za
      
 
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